Print books are like zombies. They don't die easily.

There's a dark side to these zombies of the printed page. We never throw them out, so they're difficult to kill.

We pass them on to friends who read them, and then they pass them on again. We sell them,...

Why do writers write?

Last week, Maria Schneider's popular online writing community, Editor Unleashed, launched an essay competition, challenging writers to write why they write. The top 50 entrants will be published in a free ebook anthology, and the grand prize winner will earn $500.

The answers to...

Does Stephen King still need a publisher?

My previous post was an allegory for why book publishing is like venture capital. Publishers, in exchange for investing their cash, talent and connections, become part owners of the author's book project. Authors agree to share ownership in exchange for the...

My roots are in Silicon Valley. For most of the last three decades, Silicon Valley was the world's hotbed for startup innovation. Our advantage over the rest of the world was our unique ecosystem of talent and funding, and a culture that encouraged creative risk taking, creative destruction, knowledge sharing...

2009 will go down in history as the year e-books went mainstream.

According to the Association of American Publishers (AAP), between 2002 and 2008, e-books grew at a compound annual rate of 58%, compared to 1.6% for the overall book industry.

In the last two years, e-book growth...

The day has come for publishers to offer a $4.00 book.

Most books are too expensive. Compared to lower cost alternative media sources, books are becoming niche consumables like caviar.

The high cost of books jeopardizes not only the future of books, but the future of the book publishing...